When Joe Adams talks, his words leave his mouth so quickly they fall over themselves, but he doesn’t appear frantic. The wrinkles on his face, around his eyes, fold and overlap as his expression changes. His scratchy golden goatee surrounds a warm, closed-lip smile when he’s listening.
The tips of his index finger and thumb are burnt black. He said it’s from smoking down his cigarettes too far. “I’ve got a pretty bad cigarette habit,” Adams said.
It’s almost as bad as his coffee habit—but smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee are the way most mentally ill and homeless people like him get by. Adams isn’t living in a shelter right now. Instead, he spends his days at the Opportunity Center in downtown Jackson and his nights on the street…